There are two current Seattle Seahawks players with more than one Super Bowl ring, and both won their first with the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI in 2021, followed by their second with the Seahawks just last season, Super Bowl LX. Those two players are Cooper Kupp and Ernest Jones IV.
Both played instrumental roles in the Rams' championship, and they repeated those roles respectively with the Seahawks last season. Now, as Kupp and Jones, along with the rest of the Seahawks, continue to gear up for the 2026-27 title defense season, both players have obviously been there and done that.
It's never easy to defend a championship, never mind repeat as champions. The Rams attempted that trial in 2022 but failed, struggling heavily the next season, posting a 5-12 record.
The Seattle Seahawks aren't "defending" their championship, says Ernest Jones IV
Of course, in the years since, the Rams have risen back up and are serious contenders, as are the Seahawks, who will be defending their championship this time around. Except Jones doesn't see it as a title-defending year, but rather something different, with a different focus.
As the big picture and the semantics of it all would tell you, yes, the Seahawks are defending their championship next season. That's just how it goes in sports. If you win it all the year before, the following year, you're defending your win. Not so fast, says Jones, who knows what happens when your team is focused on defending rather than simply winning.
It's not as if the Rams weren't focused on winning games the year after they won the Super Bowl (injuries didn’t help), but according to Jones, the team's collective mindset was to defend. Jones was a rookie the year the Rams won, so naturally, he likely just went with the flow and thought like everyone else.
He's not necessarily wrong in that thinking, if that's an accurate assumption, but what shows up in Jones these days is how differently he thinks now.
Speaking with Seattle Sports, Jones discussed the differences between winning his first Super Bowl as a rookie with the Rams and his second with the Seahawks, and his perspective fits perfectly with how the Seahawks carry themselves.
“I just think the mindset, it’s kind of different,” Jones said. “The first time (with the Rams), we were trying to defend it. This time, (last year) really doesn’t matter. … Last year is not going to help us. We've gotta go out and do it again and do what we did and establish ourselves early and keep that going."
Jones has not only developed into a standout linebacker in Seattle, but also one of the defensive leaders on and off the field. Not to mention, his comments are the perfect reflection of the personalities that sweep across the Seahawks defense. They're called "The Dark Side" for a reason.
Will the Seahawks repeat? Who knows; only time will tell. Will they have a 5-12 follow-up season? It's very unlikely. Next to the Kansas City Chiefs, who have defended their championships with the most success in this decade, the Seahawks look like the next-most-likely team to repeat. It's probably still better to think like Jones thinks, though.
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